2006 Asian Games
The 2006 Asian Games, officially known as the XV Asiad or 15th Asian Games, were an Asian multi-sport event held in Doha, Qatar, from December 1 to 15, 2006, with 424 events in 39 sports featured in the games. Doha was the first city in its region and only the second in West Asia to host the games. The city will host the games again in 2030.
It was the first time that all 45 member nations of the Olympic Council of Asia took part in this event. Also, Eurosport broadcast the event, marking the first time that the event was broadcast outside the continent. 21 competition venues were used for the Games including the newly constructed Aspire Indoor Sports Complex. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Games were held at Khalifa International Stadium. The trampoline discipline of gymnastics, as well as chess and triathlon made their debut at the Games.
The final medal tally was led by China, followed by South Korea and Japan. Qatar finished in ninth place. Tajikistan, Jordan and United Arab Emirates won their first ever Asian Games gold medals. 7 world and 23 Asian records were broken during the games, while South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan was announced as the most valuable player.
Bidding process
Doha, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi submitted their formal bids by the deadline 30 June 2000. Prior to the voting, evaluation committee of the OCA, headed by the then vice-president of the association Muhammad Latif Butt inspected Doha on 13 and 14 July 2000, New Delhi on 15 and 16 July 2000, Kuala Lumpur on 17 and 18 July 2000, and Hong Kong on 19 and 20 July 2000.On November 12, 2000, voting for the 2006 venue took place during the 19th Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly held in Busan, South Korea. The voting involved the 41 members of the Olympic Council of Asia and consisted of three rounds, each round eliminating one of the bidding cities. After the first round, New Delhi was eliminated, with only two votes. The second round of voting, with three remaining candidates, gave Doha as the result.
| City | NOC | Round 1 | Round 2 |
| Doha | ''' QatarDevelopment and preparationsCostsQatar spent US$2.8 billion on preparing venues, including a major upgrade to the 50,000-seat Khalifa Stadium from its original 20,000-seat capacity and the construction of the Aspire indoor sports complex, the world's largest indoor multi-sports dome.VolunteersVolunteering programme of Doha 2006 Asian Games which began in July 2004 targeted 12,000 volunteers and over 30,000 applications were received. The volunteers wore a specific uniform and are grouped at the Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre at the Al-Gharafa SC.Torch relayThe torch relay has been integral to the Asian Games since 1958. The plans for the Doha 2006 torch relay were revealed by the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee on 20 January 2006. It engaged EFM Global Logistics to handle all the logistics for the relay.The torch of the 2006 edition weighs 1.5 kilograms and is 72 centimetres tall. Its design was inspired by the curvaceous horns of the Arabian Oryx, featuring maroon and white colours which are the colours of the Qatari national flag. It symbolises the unifying spirit of competition and friendship throughout Asia. The relay itself started on 8 October 2006 with a brief ceremony at the Doha Golf Club where the torch was lit with the theme of "Flame of Hospitality". With the involvement of over 3,000 people, the torch crossed eight former Asian Games host cities and the four Gulf Cooperation Council member states. The torch travelled back to Doha held by Sheikh Joan Bin Hamad Al-Thani, and the journey around the city itself started on 25 November 2006 and lasted until the opening ceremony of the Games. The first stop was in New Delhi, the birthplace of the Asian Games on 11 October 2006 where the torch's flame was fused together with the Eternal Asian Games Flame that burn at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium. During the fourth stop in Hiroshima on 21 October, the torch's flame was fused again but now with the Peace flame that burns at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. In total the relay passed through 13 countries and 23 cities, visited several landmarks such as Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China along its way to Qatar. The relay, which totaled a distance of 50,000 kilometres in 55 days, was until today, the longest in the history of the Asian Games. MarketingEmblemThe emblem of the 15th Asian Games is an image of an athlete in motion which represents fearless manner of a sportsperson in face of challenges and obstacles. The colours used in the emblem represent Qatar's landscape. Yellow represents the crescent-shaped sand dunes of the desert, blue represents the calm sea of the Gulf and red represents the sun and warm spirit of Asia.MascotAn Arabian oryx named Orry served as the official mascot of the games. It was unveiled at the Doha waterfront on 1 January 2005 in conjunction with the start of the 700-day countdown to the games. He represents energy, determination, sportsmanship spirit, commitment, enthusiasm, participation, respect, peace and fun; he is also described as a great sportsman.MedalsThe medals of the games were designed by Dallah advertising and Gulf Media agency. Around 3,000 medals in gold, silver and bronze were made for the games. They featured Orry, the official Games mascot, as well as the Al Zubara Fort on the obverse and the official logo on the reverse.PromotionTo promote the games, the organisers built a countdown clock and a giant statue of the official mascot, Orry, at the Doha Corniche. In addition, they also decorated the city with banners and 30 life-size versions of the mascot in a variety of different sporting poses. Touchscreen kiosks were set up at hotels, malls and businesses in the city to provide users with Qatar tourism and the games' information and details. On 3 April 2005, Qatar's flag carrier, Qatar Airways signed a US$10 million agreement with the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee to become the event's official airline. The airline painted seven of its Airbus A330 in three distinct Asian Games liveries namely blue, red and yellow and produced television commercials and a special 80-page guide on the sporting event in its in-flight magazine "Oryx" as part of its Global Advertising Campaign to promote the sporting event.MerchandisingDuring the games, merchandises were sold at various locations in the city, including competition venues.VenuesThe Games used mostly new venues within the city. There were a total of 23 venues for the games, with 21 of them being competition venues and others being Main Media Centre and Athletes' village. After a major upgrade, Khalifa Stadium had a new running track, a new tensile fabric roof structure on its western seating and an arch on its east part. A temporary velodrome was built at Aspire Academy for track cycling events.The Athletes’ Village was built on a 330,000 square metres site in the city centre, which had 32 residential buildings with 811 five-bedroom apartments for athletes and 45 for Chef-de-Missions and could accommodate 11,500 athletes and team officials. Transportwas expanded with the cost of US$1 billion in the run-up to the games to handle increasing air traffic volume and facilitate an estimated arrival of 10,500 athletes from 45 Asian countries, while Qatar's state-owned public transport service, the Qatar Transport Company provided bus, taxi and limousine services in the city to spectators, athletes, officials and volunteers during the games.The GamesOpening ceremonyThe opening ceremony was viewed by 50,000 spectators in the Khalifa International Stadium, including VIP guests like Jacques Rogge from the International Olympic Committee, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from Iran, Ismail Haniyeh from Palestine and Bashar al-Assad from Syria. The opening ceremony was directed and produced by the Australian David Atkins, who also helmed the 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Sydney.The opening ceremony showcased the importance of the culture of the Arab world in the history of Asia and referenced the region's contact with other Asian cultures. Several musical artists such as Hong Kong's Jacky Cheung, India's Bollywood star Sunidhi Chauhan, Lebanon's Majida El Roumi and Spanish tenor José Carreras performed at the ceremony. The ceremony ended with the lighting of the cauldron at the main stadium by Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani, son of the emir and captain of the Qatar equestrian endurance team. At the same time, another cauldron was lit at the top of the Aspire Tower. The games was officially opened by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Participating National Olympic CommitteesAll 45 OCA members participated in the Games, including Iraq which returned to compete after its suspension was lifted. Iraq last competed at the 1986 Asian Games and was suspended from 1990 until 2004 due to the Gulf War. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that the National Olympic Committee contributed.
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